


Unscrambling an Egg

by Gray Cardinal (Gray_Cardinal)



Category: Batman (1966)
Genre: Amnesia, Comment Fic, Crack, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-05-29
Updated: 2006-05-29
Packaged: 2017-10-03 17:18:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 670
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20457
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gray_Cardinal/pseuds/Gray%20Cardinal
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Holy identity crisis!  Batman's had his memories wiped...or has he?  Written for a commentfic challenge hosted by <a href="http://liviapenn.livejournal.com">liviapenn</a>.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Unscrambling an Egg

Behind the cowl, the Caped Crusader's eyes were vacant. "Who am I? And why am I wearing this outfit?"

Robin and Batgirl exchanged horrified glances. "Holy amnesia!" the Boy Wonder exclaimed. "Egghead's wiped out Batman's memory with his Electro-Thought Transferrer!"

"We've got to do something!" Batgirl said.

"Batman? Who's Batman?" inquired the thought-deprived wearer of the Bat-costume, playing with one of the gadgets on his utility belt. A pencil-thin Batbeam lanced down, slicing a foot-long incision into the deserted alley's pavement and missing the toe of its owner's left Batboot by barely half an inch. Startled, the man who wasn't exactly Batman at the moment jerked his hand away from his belt.

Robin's tone grew more frantic by the syllable. "We've got to sneak into Egghead's nest and get the Transferrer! Then we'll be able to reverse the effect!"

"Maybe not," Batgirl said thoughtfully. They'd tangled with Egghead and his mind-stealing machine before, and Barbara Gordon -- who wasn't a librarian in civilian life for nothing -- had done some research since then.

"We can't reverse the effect?" Robin demanded, almost hysterical. "But then--"

"No, no," said Batgirl soothingly, "we may not need Egghead's gadget to do it."

"But how?" The soothing tone had less effect than Barbara had hoped. Not for the first time, Batgirl wondered just what test the Boy Wonder had passed to become Batman's sidekick, since most of his conversational skill seemed to consist of asking questions. Unfortunately, with Batman incapacitated, no one else was around to answer him.

"Despite the name," Batgirl replied, "the Electro-Thought Transferrer doesn't really erase memories from the victim's brain. It copies them into its memory bank, then blankets the victim's mind with white noise -- an overlay of static interference that blocks the victim's ability to access the knowledge in his conscious mind. All we have to do is counter that static with a concentrated tone of exactly the right frequency, and the interference will dissipate."

"Holy needle in a haystack, Batgirl!" the Boy Wonder responded. "How can we isolate exactly the right tone? There must be milllions of possible frequencies!"

"Theoretically, yes," said Batgirl over her shoulder; she had grabbed the amnesiac Caped Crusader by an arm and was tugging him toward the Batgirl-Cycle. "But it's easier if you look at the problem backwards. The frequency range of brain waves is really very narrow -- by using an oscillating tone, we can cover that range in just a few seconds." She flipped up a panel, tinkered with the wiring for a moment, and shut it again. "Better put your Batplugs in, Robin," she told the Boy Wonder. "This is going to be awfully loud." She quickly donned her own earplugs, reached for the Batgirl-Cycle's horn button, and held it down.

An ululating "OOOEEEEEEEOOOOOOOOOEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAOOOOOOO!" screamed from the motorcycle's nose, causing a horde of rats to scamper past the trio and out of the alley at astonishing speed. Even the Batplugs couldn't entirely block the noise's intensity; Barbara winced behind her cowl, but Robin's expression was positively agonized. Abruptly, however, she saw the Caped Crusader's eyes snap back to their usual alert state, and in that instant she lifted her finger off the horn control.

"Good work, Batgirl!" Batman said, seemingly none the worse for his experience. "That was an egg-stremely efficient effort if I do say so myself!" Batgirl blinked, wondering if the Dynamic Duo's senior member realized just how bad a pun he'd uttered. For all his reputation as the world's greatest detective, he had a definite knack for overstating the obvious.

"What now, Batman?" asked the Boy Wonder.

"Now," said the Caped Crusader confidently, "we scramble the Egghead in his own frying pan. Quick, Robin, to the Batmobile!"

Batgirl stared after them as the duo raced to their vehicle, parked just outside the alley. As she mounted the Batgirl-Cycle to follow them, she made a mental resolution never to accept a date with the Boy Wonder. _Not too swift,_ she thought, racing through Gotham's streets. _Now, Dick Grayson on the other hand...._


End file.
